some video's
Japanese Taisho Kotos
The are in a familie with the Indian Bulbul Tarang, wich is in the same lay out.
The keys stop the strings on a fret board underneath the hood by levers like on an old typewriter. You can find video's on YouTube.
updated by @wout-blommers: 12/12/15 04:49:24PM
A good buy! They go from about US$100 on up to about $300 here in Japan, depending on the quality and fancies. They are modestly popular among seniors and group lesson/players groups are fairly common. And that's just about everything I know about them.
I found these taisho kotos in a flea market in Georgetown, Ontario. The bottom one had a price tag of $65 and when I went back to buy it for my friend Steafan, the seller said that I could have two for $100, so I just couldn't say no. These are played by strumming the strings with a pick near the bridge and pressing keys to stop the strings on the fretboard below the cover.The white keys are se up like a dulcimer's frets and the black keys make it chromatic. There are 4 melody strings tuned with three in the upper octave and one in the lower. There is also a bass drone string.
It's sort of a cross between a dulcimer and a typewriter.
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display:none;>[quote Yates:
I found these taisho kotos in a flea market in Georgetown, Ontario. The bottom one had a price tag of $65 and when I went back to buy it for my friend Steafan, the seller said that I could have two for $100, so I just couldn't say no. These are played by strumming the strings with a pick near the bridge and pressing keys to stop the strings on the fretboard below the cover.The white keys are se up like a dulcimer's frets and the black keys make it chromatic. There are 4 melody strings tuned with three in the upper octave and one in the lower. There is also a bass drone string.
It's sort of a cross between a dulcimer and a typewriter.
